Stefan Küng has confirmed he will return to racing later this week at the Swiss Road Championships after a three-and-a-half-month absence to recover from a fractured femur. The 32-year-old plans to make his comeback in the elite men's time trial on Thursday, looking for his 10th career national title, with nine of those in the ITT.
Küng suffered a severe fracture to his left proximal femur in a crash at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on February 28. He was transferred from a Belgian hospital the next day to Switzerland, where he had surgery. It was only his sixth racing day with his new Tudor Pro Cycling team.
"After a lot of hard work, it's time for a comeback. Let's go," Küng said in a video post to Instagram on Monday, adding, "It's been a while … 115 days to be exact."
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After several weeks on crutches, Küng was allowed to train lightly on rollers, but 'unrestricted training' was now allowed for three months from the time of the injury.
Küng will compete in both road disciplines this week in Courtételle, taking the start on Sunday in the elite men's road race, an event he won in 2020 as part of a nationals sweep. He'll have to unseat reigning double champion Mauro Schmid in both races to reach double digits for another national jersey, with Stefan Bissegger and Jan Christen other top contenders for the time trial.
The time trial discipline is where Küng displays his power, having won five medals at European Championships and four medals at World Championships. He won his first national title in the time trial in 2011 at age 17. Two years later, he earned the U23 ITT national title.
Now in his 16th season of racing, including 11 years with two WorldTeam squads, the Swiss star has had sporadic success in road races, including a bronze medal on the road at Worlds in 2019. He has one stage victory at a Grand Tour, coming in the individual time trial at the 2024 Vuelta a España.
His Tudor Pro team had not confirmed a full roster yet for the Tour de France, which starts July 4 and would be his ninth appearance. There are only two races against the clock at this year's Tour, which may not help Küng's nod for the roster, which opens with a team time trial in Barcelona and then has an ITT to open the third week.
Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe was the only teammate confirmed for the Tour so far, as it was announced he would skip his road nationals this week to focus on the Grand Tour in two weeks.
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